1) The Dragons Descend
by The Hummingbird Tales
Summary: The Doctor and Clara were heading home at last, tired out from another adventure, but as usual, the universe won't have that. So now they're stranded in a little village in somewhere they THINK is India... And there's dragons. Lots of 'em. (Set before ANY of my other stories: wrote this YEARS ago, but it's the prequel to one I'm currently working on that will be up soon.) Whouffle.
1. Chapter 1 - An Introduction to Mud

Chapter 1

"Something just hit us!" shouted The Doctor as he flew around the console of the TARDIS, adjusting switches.

"I know! I felt it!" Clara shouted over to him as she white-knuckled her grip on a convenient handrail, "Hang on, I thought we were heading home at last?"

"We _were_ …" The Doctor hummed, "But there's been a change of plan!" he grinned. Clara doubted that this would end well…

Two minutes later they crash-landed, with a thud, on another planet. Clara prepared herself for what was outside those doors because it was guaranteed not to be somewhere nice, like Spain or Paris. And it wasn't. It was nothingness.

"Well… I suppose it's better than a land filled with aliens…" Clara started to say, but just then a Dragon swooped past.

"I see I stand corrected."

"Come on then!" said The Doctor, cheerfully.

"Well _you_ can but _I'm_ staying right here in the TARDIS where it's nice and cosy and warm," said Clara, dreamily, and she started to walk back inside. The Doctor grabbed her by her arm.

"Ouch!" Clara exclaimed, rubbing the side of her arm as she reluctantly walked outside again and into the dangers of yet _another_ adventure. Another Dragon flew past and The Doctor and Clara crept, cautiously, round the sides of the TARDIS… a huge burst of fire heated the wood of the TARDIS' exterior and The Doctor and Clara started to run. As they ran, something gradually came into view in the distance… it _looked_ like a town, so the duo ran towards it.

After a while they arrived at the gates of the town and The Doctor looked through the bars of a portcullis with a sign saying 'Mud'.

"LET US IN! PLEASE!" He bellowed as a blue and silver dragon flew towards him and Clara. The portcullis slowly and painstakingly opened to reveal, behind it, a slightly blurry hillside. The Doctor ran through to the hills without hesitation. The hills seemed to wobble as he ran through the portcullis' gateway; Clara looked behind her, to the darkness and nothingness, and stepped through the gateway, reluctantly. She had a strange, fizzy, nauseous, feeling of being in a huge oceanic depth and then she was on the other side. She looked behind again and instead of nothingness, blackness and dragons, there was a wide mountain range with hills and trees.

"It's a telisenctual hallucination," said The Doctor, eventually.

"A what?" Clara asked, bewildered.

"A hologram," explained The Doctor. There was a cough from behind them and the two time travellers turned round to see a man dressed in a scruffy top and even scruffier jeans held up by a piece of rope instead of a belt.

"Hello?" he asked.

"Evening," replied The Doctor.

"Who are you?" asked the man.

"Well, I'm The Doctor and this is Clara. Who are you?"

"I'm Tobias. What brings you here to our village in the middle of nowhere? We don't usually get visitors around these parts."

"Just…exploring… really."

"Well why don't you come inside for a bite to eat?" asked Tobias. The Doctor wasn't given much of an option, so he and Clara followed Tobias into a small house made of mud and sticks - there was a nice smell of cooking coming from inside. In the house there was a small stove, a wooden bench, a small coffee table made from a tree stump, a wicker dog basket in the corner, a kettle and a few plates and cups carved out of wood. A lady sat on a rug (evidently made out of bear skins) next to the stove, brewing tea.

"Let me introduce you to my lovely wife, Jessica," said Tobias, gesturing to the lady, "and our pet dog, Davie," he continued, pointing to a Burmese mountain dog sitting in the corner next to another tree stump table. Tobias peered over his wife's shoulder to see a pot with something bubbling away inside it. " Mmm! What's cooking?" He asked.

"Foie gras," answered Jessica.

"What's that?"

"Specially fattened goose liver."

"I'm… I'm not hungry," said Tobias, grimacing. Turning back to The Doctor and Cara he said, "Jessica, let me introduce you to Clara and The Doctor,"

Jessica turned round to face them,

"Take a seat."

And she gestured to the wooden bench next to the coffee table. The three of them sat down.

"You live here, then?" enquired The Doctor.

"Yes," answered Tobias.

"What's the hologram for?" Clara asked. Tobias coughed,

"The dragons, they've been terrorising the village for centuries. We have the hallucination field so we don't have to see the dragons outside the walls, such a dull reminder of what's there."

"Where did the dragons come from?"

"No-one knows. But _some_ say they came from _outer-space_ ," Tobias whispered. Jessica placed a bowl of foie gras on the table and drew up a seat next to them,

"How did _you_ get here anyway?" she asked. The Doctor and Clara looked at each other and nodded,

"Well the truth is…" started Clara.

"We're time travellers, we travel through time and space in my space/time machine, the TARDIS," finished The Doctor.

"We help people," sighed Clara, "On other planets and, sometimes, from other time periods."

"Can _you_ help _us_?" asked Jessica, "Can you drive the Dragons away? Sometimes they manage to fly into the village and they… burn the villagers. To death. Can you stop them?"

"We'll try," sighed Clara, "We pick up the pieces-"

"But sometimes the pieces are broken." Finished The Doctor, sadly. Jessica and Tobias nodded in agreement.

"It's getting late, let us show you to the nearest inn," Jessica offered, after a while of silence.

So Jessica and Tobias opened the door and The Doctor and Clara followed them into town…


	2. Chapter 2 - Ring of Fire

Chapter 2

Mud was a nice town, rather like a small village in India with dirt houses, and animals dotted around all about the place.

Jessica and Tobias had led them to an inn and waved them off. The Doctor and Clara pushed open the doors to the inn and a friendly old lady behind a counter greeted them. A cat sat on a cushion next to her.

"Verity," said The Doctor, reading from the lady's nametag.

"How can I help you?" asked Verity, smiling.

"We're looking for somewhere to stay for the night," explained The Doctor.

"Well, you can just follow me up to a spare room-" Verity talked quite quickly and got out of her seat to lead The Doctor and Clara up a flight of stairs, "I think you'll like it here!" she continued Verity as she started to make her way up the staircase. She was quite a short woman and, not only did she talk quickly, but she walked quickly too. The Doctor and Clara had to _run_ up the stairs to keep up with her. "We never have customers and I'm so delighted that you can have the room free of charge!" she said, enthusiastically.

" _That's good because we have_ no money," said Clara, under her breath as they entered a small room at the top of the building. The room had a small window in the roof, two mattresses on the floor, a tree stump dining table with a clock on it, a miniature stove and a door leading to an en-suite bathroom.

"Thank you," said Clara quietly.

"Well, I suppose I'll just leave you to it! See you later!" Grinned Verity, slamming the door behind her as she left the room. Clara cringed and The Doctor sat down on one of the mattresses.

"I suppose we'll need some sleep now, to get over the shock," Clara sighed.

"What type of shock?" The Doctor asked.

"The 'crash-landing in a weird place infested with dragons and meeting an elderly lady called Verity who talks too fast' type of shock," Clara yawned as she lay down the other mattress.

"I suppose," said The Doctor, "But _I'm_ going to think of a way to help these villagers."

So he took his jacket off and Clara used it as a blanket as the Time Lord paced around the room…

Sighed Clara.

"What type of shock?" The Doctor asked.

"The 'crash-landing in a weird place infested with dragons and meeting a lady called Verity who talks too fast' type of shock." Clara yawned as she lay down the other mattress.

"I suppose," said The Doctor, "But _I'm_ going to think of a way to help these villagers." He said, determined.

The Doctor took his jacket off and Clara used it as a blanket as The Doctor paced around the room…

4 hours later, Clara looked at the clock and groaned,

"DOCTOR!" she yelled, irritably.

"What?" The Doctor asked, innocently.

"Stop, just, stop!"

"What?"

"You're _pacing_."

"I'm _thinking._ "

"Well…think quieter. It's 2.30 in the morning and I haven't had a _wink_ of sleep since two nights ago!" Clara sighed as she stood up, beginning to drag the mattress into the en-suite bathroom and lock the door; she laid the mattress on the floor and tried to get to sleep. It had been cold in the bedroom but it was even _colder_ in the bathroom. She could just about hear something over The Doctor's footsteps, it was a roaring noise. It grew louder. Clara looked out of the tiny window in the bathroom and saw flames: the village was on fire! She pulled The Doctor's jacket back on and opened the window, she looked down: a dragon's footprints marked where it had walked. Clara looked up and saw a silver and yellow dragon flying over the town. The dragon turned her way and a flame burst out of it's mouth, Clara ducked, the flame heated the side of the inn, she heard crumbling, the floor cracked and Clara turned towards the door…and accidentally ran into it, she hastily unlocked the door and burst into the bedroom just as the floor gave way underneath her. The Doctor turned to her,

"What?" he asked, innocently, just as Clara burst into the room.

"The…floor…just…collapsed." Gasped Clara "The…village…is… on…fire." And she leaned against the wall to regain her balance. The Doctor opened the bathroom door.

"Phew!" He exclaimed, "I see what you mean." And he mopped his brow with his sleeve.

"What do we do?" asked Clara.

"I suggest we help the town."

"How?"

"By driving the dragon away."

"How?"

"You'll see."

"I hate it when you say that."

"Why?"

"Because I never do," Clara sighed as she followed The Doctor down the staircase. They ran out the front door and into the town, hurrying straight to Tobias and Jessica's house.

They were exhausted by the time they got there.

Jessica and Tobias were standing outside the house and Davie the Burmese was next to them. They ran towards The Doctor and Clara.

"How did this happen?" asked The Doctor, shouting above the noise of burning and screaming.

"We don't know," stuttered Jessica, "We just woke up and it was in flames!"

"One of the dragons must have managed to fly through the hallucination field!" suggested Tobias, "But that would be the first time in fifty years!"

"Who _cares_ how it happened, just let's do something about it!" shouted Clara as the dragon set fire to the next house along from Tobias and Jessica's.

"Is there a armoury around here anywhere?" asked The Doctor.

"Yes it's over there," Jessica answered, pointing to a rather small building about five metres away from where they were standing. The Doctor ran towards it and Clara sprinted after him.

They entered the armoury and The Doctor looked around for a shield… or maybe a dagger. He found a shield and thrust it towards Clara, she caught it neatly. The Doctor armed himself with a sword and crept back outside, Clara followed closely.

A blaze of fire darted out of the dragon's mouth and Clara ducked for cover behind the shield as it set fire to a nearby tree.

The Doctor whistled to get the dragon's attention, it worked: the dragon turned towards him and glared. The Doctor pulled out the sonic screwdriver and held it up.

The dragon looked at it and puffed out a cloud of smoke. The Doctor leaned over to Clara and, not taking his eyes off the menacing dragon, whispered:

" _You might want to cover your ears._ "

Clara did accordingly and The Doctor pressed a button on his sonic screwdriver…it let out the most ear-piercing whistle and the whole village groaned in pain.

"That's _so LOUD!_ " shouted Clara; she could ever hear it with her ears covered. The dragon screeched and flew off, in terror, over the village gates. The Doctor released the button and put the sonic screwdriver back in his waistcoat pocket. Clara got out from behind the shield and stood up.

"That's _that_ sorted then," she said as the village applauded.

The Doctor smiled at her,

"I don't think we'll be hearing much more of dragons in the town any time soon!" he grinned.

Clara caught sight of Verity, walking towards them and waving.

"I think we should be getting you back to your apartment!" she suggested.

"Or what's left of it," sighed Clara as she and The Doctor followed Verity back to the inn.

As The Doctor locked the bathroom door with his sonic screwdriver, to make sure no one falls out, Clara gazed out of the small window in the roof.

"I've got a strange feeling that that dragon is going to come back." She sighed.

"Just get some sleep before morning."

"It's already morning."

"Is it? What time is it?"

"Half past five." yawned Clara.

"Well, ever the more reason to get some rest then."

Clara settled down, though the room was even colder than before, and gradually fell dead to the world.


	3. Chapter 3 - Rain

Chapter 3

When Clara woke up, The Doctor was already awake.

"Morning!" he called, cheerfully.

Clara yawned,

"What time is it?" she asked.

The Doctor looked at his watch,

"10.00," he answered, "You've been asleep ages!"

"Well, that's what you get from saving a village from a fire-breathing dragon at 2.30 in the morning."

"Anyway, come on!" shouted The Doctor, hurrying down the stairs.

"Where are we going?" asked Clara

"To see the village!" called The Doctor, cheerfully.

Clara pulled on her jacket and followed The Doctor down the staircase of the inn. They crept past Verity's room and out of the door.

When they got outside, they were both shocked to see how much the village had been affected by the attack.

The town was a shambles; a tree looked as if it might fall over any minute and there was blackened fire stains everywhere.

A dressmaker cleaned up her shop and a mother tended to her daughter, a potter was making a new batch of pots and ash from the fire was scattered all over the place. Clara bit her lip and gazed, sadly, over at the remains of a small cottage that was now half house and half ash.

"I'm going to go and check on Jessica and Tobias," announced The Doctor, "Maybe you should stay here and help out the villagers," he suggested.

Clara nodded and watched as The Doctor ran into the distance. She turned round to face the dressmaker,

"Need a hand?" she asked

"Oh, yes please!" smiled the dressmaker, "Can you help me tidy these bits of cloth up? It would be _most_ helpful!" and she pointed to

a pile of rags and yarn in the corner.

"Always happy to help," Muttered Clara as she picked up a half burnt broom and got to work.

The Doctor knocked on the door to Tobias and Jessica's house and peered through their window. When Jessica came to the door The Doctor grinned at her,

"Need any help tiding up?" he asked, happily.

"Um… ok?" Jessica coughed, raising an eyebrow at The Doctor's wide smile as part of the doorframe collapsed under his slightest touch. She showed him in.

The little house was completely messed up, only the miniature stove remained unharmed. Davie lay in the corner in what was left of the wicker dog-basket, whimpering.

"You can start by cleaning up _that_ ," said Jessica, pointing to a mound of earth in the middle of the room.

Clara lay down on the ground and stared up at the sky, it had been two hours and The Doctor still wasn't back.

She picked up a twig.

"What are you doing today?" she asked it.

The twig, being a twig, didn't say a thing.

"Yeah, me too…nothing." And she tossed it aside.

"Sorry I was a while!" said a voice from behind her. Clara jumped. She yelped and turned over.

The Doctor smiled and Clara stood up.

"Don't creep up on me like that!" She snapped.

The Doctor shrugged and they walked back towards the inn… and it started to rain.

"I _hate_ the rain." The Doctor grumbled.

"Hang on, how can it rain inside a _hallucination field?_ " asked Clara. The Doctor stopped walking and the rain pelted down and Clara brushed a wet piece of hair out of her face, "What?" she asked.

"There _is_ no hallucination field." Answered The Doctor.

"Ohhh… Do you think that's how the dragon got in?"

"Yes." Said The Doctor, shortly. Clara looked at him, he looked at her and they hurried towards the gates of the village…

When they finally got to the gates. Clara took a moment to catch her breath and The Doctor stuck an arm through the bars of the portcullis but felt nothing. He looked up and, instead of a mountain range and trees, he saw a dark forest and a snowy mountain with a cave in the rock face. The Doctor felt around for something to switch the hallucination field back on and found a button on the wall, he pressed it and the hologram field flickered back into life.

"We're going out there," he announced..

Clara looked up as the rain stopped falling,

"Now?" She asked.

"Well…no. But we _will_ be going."

"Ok, two things, _when_ and _why?_ "

"We need to investigate where the dragons live so we can do something about them."

"We're going to climb a cliff to look at some dragons that might eat us?"

"Umm…yes."

"Right, goodbye, I'm going back to bed," said Clara. She spun around on her heels and headed back to the inn.

"WAIT, CLARA, COME BACK," called The Doctor after her.

When Clara didn't look back, The Doctor sighed and ran after her. He caught up and tried to reason with her,

"Look, we're not going _right now_. It'll be fun! The journey of a lifetime! Trust me!"

Clara thought for a while and looked into The Doctor's pleading eyes,

"Oh…OK, have it your own way." She gave in. Maybe it _would_ be fun…

The Doctor smiled,

"Actually, you're probably right, we should get home,"

And they walked back to the inn.

"Just, no walking about tonight, ok?" smiled Clara. The Doctor just smiled back and nodded.

When they got back to their apartment, The Doctor explained to Clara exactly what they were going to do (but I'm not going to write it down because I'm trying to save paper and therefore trees and therefore forests and therefore the world)

"That sounds…risky," sighed Clara, after a minute.

"Yeah, but at least we'll be doing something for the villagers for once,"

"I like your use of the phrase 'for once'."

"It's true!" The Doctor shrugged, leaning against the planks nailed over the door to what was once a bathroom.

"So… what do we need for a mountaineering trip?" Clara asked.

"Um…I'll make a list…"


	4. Chapter 4 - Up The Mountain

Chapter 4

The next few days were spent getting ready for the 'journey of a lifetime', or at least, that's what The Doctor had called it.

The Doctor and Clara spent ages looking round the town, looking for 'supplies' (as The Doctor had said),

"When you say 'supplies' like that, it sounds like we're going on some sort of major expedition," Clara would say.

"We _are_ going on an expedition!" The Doctor would proclaim, excitedly.

When the day came that they _did_ set off for the mountains, Clara was feeling a little more than anxious,

"So let me get this straight," she sighed as she and The Doctor packed up the 'supplies', "We're going to climb up a mountain-"

"Yep," said The Doctor, not taking his eyes off the small rucksack that Verity had supplied him with.

"To see inside a cave-"

"Yep,"

"And in all probability get eaten?" She asked.

The Doctor turned to her and gently placed a hand on her shoulder,

"Look, Clara, don't worry, it'll be _fine_ ," he assured her.

"Still, I can't help _thinking_ …" Clara mumbled as she carried on packing a torch into another rucksack.

When they had finished packing, The Doctor ran down the stairs, two at a time, ahead of Clara,

"I think you might be getting a little bit over-eager," Clara called after him,

"Nonsense!" The Doctor called back. Clara ran down the staircase after him and followed him out of the door into town.

By the time they reached the gates, Clara was starting to feel ill,

"Is it too late to back out?" she asked.

"Yes," said The Doctor, "It was always too late to back out," he added as they stepped through the force field…

As they walked towards the mountain, The Doctor went through the plan again, one last time. Clara was getting tired of listening to The Doctor ramble on about the 'expedition' that they were just about to go on. When they reached the base of the mountain, Clara was starting to fall asleep,

"What time is it?" she asked.

"10.00."

"What time did we set off?"

"Half past eight."

"It feels as though we've been walking for _days_!" Clara moaned as The Doctor pulled what looked like a pickaxe from his rucksack. "How did you get _that_ in _there_?" Clara asked and peered into his rucksack, "What _else_ have you got in there?"

The Doctor picked another three pickaxes out of his bag, "Ok, now I'm just completely bewildered; what are you going to do with _four_ pickaxes?" Clara asked. The Doctor handed two pickaxes over to her and stuck one of his pickaxes into the rock; stones and grit fell out of the mountain-side, he then did the same with the other axe and started to climb up the side of the mountain,

"Coming?" he asked.

Clara sighed and climbed up after him,

"When you said 'head up the mountain', I didn't expect there to be hiking involved…"

It took half an hour to reach the top of the mountain.

The Doctor put the pick axes back in his rucksack and Clara stumbled over to a nearby wall,

"I think I've forgotten how to walk," she exclaimed as The Doctor slipped his rucksack onto his back,

"Of course you haven't!" he argued as he looked around: it was a big cave. And a dark one.

Clara pulled a torch out of her bag and switched it on, they seemed to be in a large hallway. As Clara shone it around the dark room, it illuminated a few bones on the floor and a wet red stain on the wall that she very much hoped was just wine or something…

"Rather big isn't it," The Doctor marvelled, "You know what I think we might have to do?" he asked Clara.

Clara looked at him, wide-eyed,

"No, not that Doctor, not split up? We did that _last time_ and you remember what happened don't you? We spent _hours_ looking for each-other!" she pleaded,

"It was _your_ idea… and it worked out in the end…" said The Doctor as he set off down one side of the cave. Clara groaned, unhappily, and started down the other side of the hall.

The Doctor soon came across an archway in one side of the cave wall, so he walked through it: it was even _darker_ than the hallway. He rummaged in his rucksack for a torch (he had only just been able to fit it in his bag along with the four pickaxes and a sandwich) he finally found it and turned it on, As the torch lit up the room, The Doctor looked around: there was a pile of bones in the corner and a mound of… purple scales, it looked like…The Doctor only realised what it was when a green eye snapped open on the mound and looked at him. The dragon stood up and stretched. At full height, it towered above The Doctor.

The Doctor clicked the torch off and swallowed. The dragon roared and The Doctor ran out of the archway, but the dragon ran after him, it's wings smashed through part of the wall and making an almighty crash as bricks and mortar fell to the floor. The Doctor struggled under the weight of his rucksack but managed to run into another room with nothing but a mound of earth inside. The dragon looked left and right and then turned round and made his way back to the first room to carry on his little nap.

Clara could hear footsteps… and see two bright green eyes in the darkness… she gasped, turned off the torch and dived under an arch in the wall, into a room. She heard the dragon turn into a different room and started to breathe again. She turned the torch back on and shone it around the room. The room was full of skeletons, she swallowed and turned the torch to the side and it illuminated a (not quite decomposed) body of a man (Well, she _thought_ it was a man: she couldn't be too sure…). Clara yelped in horror and clapped a hand to her mouth. Probably not the best idea as the next thing she saw was the head of a dragon, poking round the archway… she could feel its breath on her back and she could hear its growling… she held her breath…

The Doctor turned his torch back on and crept out of the room.

"I've had enough of this place, I've got to find a way out of this death trap," he muttered, completely forgetting about Clara. He crept round the cave, following the walls all the way round until he came to a hole in the floor… he peered down it: he could see a speck of daylight at the end of the tunnel. The Doctor edged around the hole, "Should I or shouldn't I?" he asked himself.

The Dragon screeched an ear-piercing screech and Clara spun round on her heels to face it. She looked into its deep, yellow, unblinking eyes and stared. For a moment there was silence and then Clara, quickly, slipped to the side, darted behind the dragon's head and jumped over its tail. The dragon roared and turned round to see Clara running away. Clara turned back to face the dragon and paused for a moment: the dragon was just looking, not chasing after her, just looking. But not for long: it let out another screech and ran after Clara, she started to run again. But before long she came to a dead end… the dragon was catching up… the only way out was a hole at the base of the wall, Clara looked out of it and below was a sheer drop off the edge of the cliff. The dragon neared her and she backed into the corner. It had cornered her, and she pushed herself further into the corner.

She wanted to run out of the room, but she lost her footing and slipped out of the hole, struggled for a grip on the sides of the hole but eventually decided that it would be best to… well… _let go…_

As she fell she thought about what awaited her, she soon found out, as she hit the ground she heard something crack… She tried to sit up but couldn't, so decided to wait for The Doctor. But after a while of him not coming, Clara fell asleep to the pain.

The Doctor heard a roar and glanced back down the hole,

"I've got to do it!" he sighed and he dived, head first, down the hole. When he came out the other end, he tumbled forward a bit and managed to graze the side of his face in the process. "Oof!" he grunted and then added: "Ouch!" for good measure. He heaved himself up on his shoulders, "Well, could have been worse, couldn't it, Clara?... Hang on," he mused, "Where's Clara?" he looked around and, not so far from where he was sitting, Clara lay at the base of the mountainside…


	5. Chapter 5 - Back To Mud

Chapter 5

The Doctor scurried over to Clara and checked her over, her arm had a rather gruesome scar down the side but apart from that, she looked fine. The Doctor shook her a bit and she soon woke.

"Are you all right?" he asked her, hurriedly.

Clara nodded,

"Yeah, just… tired," she said, though this wasn't quite the truth… but she didn't want to worry him.

"Well, you can tell me just what happened when we get back to the village," and, as Clara started to drop off again, The Doctor scooped her up in his arms and carriedher back to the town.

The next thing Clara knew was The Doctor's face looking down on her. He smiled at her. They were in their room in Verity's inn. Clara looked down at her bandaged arm.

"So," urged The Doctor. "What happened then?"

Sighing, Clara told The Doctor everything.

The Doctor listened intently and, occasionally, muttered something like,

"Oh?" or: "Really?" with a fascinated tone in his voice.

"That explains everything then," The Doctor nodded, biting his lip, "Um… Maybe you should just get some rest, darling," he suggested to Clara.

Clara nodded and instantaneously fell asleep.

The Doctor pulled a blanket over her and went over to his own mattress to ponder over what they had both seen that day. Coming up with a plan to rid the dragons would be hard to piece together from the few bits of information that he had so far. He eventually decided to pay a visit to Jessica and Tobias, so he woke Clara and then they set off to their friends' house.

They arrived ten minutes later and knocked on the door. Tobias came to the door and he looked genuinely happy to see them.

"We were getting worried about you!" he smiled, "Jessie!" He shouted inside, "The Doctor and Clara are here!" and he waved them inside. "Take a seat," he offered and they all sat down on the bench. "So, what did you find?" he asked.

"Not a lot, in reality," The Doctor sighed. "Only that there are more dragons than we first thought and they like to eat people…"

"And falling from mountains is a bad idea," Clara added, eyeing her arm.

"Not much then?" asked Jessica.

The Doctor shook his head.

"No idea of how to get rid of the dragons then?" Tobias asked.

"Well…" The Doctor started, "My space/time machine is bigger on the inside so… we could, I suppose, lure the dragons into it…"

While The Doctor was explaining this, Clara made herself content by picking at the bandage wrapped around her arm, finding strange satisfaction in this.

"So here's the plan," The Doctor said "We get the dragons' attention and lure them into the TARDIS,"

"The _what?_ " asked Tobias

"The TARDIS is my time machine, I've told you that. As I was saying, we lure them into the TARDIS and Clara and I fly them, probably with great difficulty without getting eaten, to their home world. Dragons are actually aliens you know. They usually spend their time in outer space, feeding on the sunlight, but every once in a while, a dragon finds its way to a nearby planet. That's how your little village became infested with them."

"That's all very interesting, but how do we lure the dragons into your TARDIS anyway?" asked Jessica.

"Well, someone could catch their attention," The Doctor suggested.

"And who would that be?"

The Doctor looked towards Clara.

Clara looked up at him,

"What?" she asked, innocently.


	6. Chapter 6 - An Abrupt End Ish

Chapter 6

"So let me get this straight," Clara began. She and The Doctor were in their room in Verity's inn, and The Doctor was explaining the basic plan of another expedition whilst Clara paced around the room, just as The Doctor had done on that first night. "So, I'm going to stand in the doorway of the TARDIS and try and catch the attention of these really dangerous dragons and try and lure them inside while you stand, safely, next to the console, ready to fly off?" she asked.

"Well, that's the basic idea, yep," The Doctor nodded.

"That's totally _insane!_ " Clara exclaimed.

The Doctor paused for a while before saying,

"You'll wear a groove in that floor, walking around in circles like that."

"I'll go along with your plan," Clara snapped, "But if I get killed in the process then it's your fault,"

The Doctor nodded, solemnly.

The day finally came.

Clara was _never_ going to forgive The Doctor for doing this,

(Standing in the TARDIS' doorway, luring in dragons, was _not_ her idea of a 'great plan') but she did it anyway: painstakingly trekking through the wilderness to find the TARDIS.

They eventually found it in the middle of a nest of sleeping dragons…

They crept past the dozing reptiles, opened the door to the TARDIS and got in.

They turned and shut the doors. Clara brushed herself down and waited the moment that would seal the end of life as she knew it. (Ok, so maybe she's over-reacting…)

It seemed ages whilst The Doctor got ready to fly the TARDIS to the dragons' home world. Oh well, they were saving the villagers of Mud, and that was the main thing.

"Now, Clara," The Doctor started "There's that purple dragon that was in the cave, he hates us, if you could catch his attention that would be great. If he sees you then he'll alert the others and they'll all come flying!"

"Have I ever mentioned _I_ HATE _you?_ " Clara asked.

The Doctor took no notice of her comment.

"Just do it," he said.

Clara sighed and whistled to get the reptile's attention. The purple dragon looked at her. He was sure that he had seen her somewhere before… Ah, that was it: she was the one who escaped his cave… now he wanted revenge. He bellowed at the top of his voice and flew to the TARDIS.

"Doctor, turn the engine on!" Clara shouted. The Doctor obeyed and soon they had a full-on dragon upheaval following them.

"So what now?" asked Clara, strangely calm.

"Now, the dragons follow us back to their home-planet," The Doctor explained.

And that's what they did: everything went better than Clara had expected…

So Clara just stood in the doorway and picked at the bandage on her arm again. The dragons were still following them as they flew out of the Milky Way.

"These dragons must _really_ hate me if they're following us through here," Clara said, fascinated.

In a few minutes, they reached the home planet of the dragons: Dragoromus.

Clara drew in a sharp breath: the planet was… beautiful.

They landed on the planet and the dragons stopped chasing them, they looked around and some gave a cackle of glee as they saw that they were home.

The dragons flew off to their different places but one stayed behind, it was the purple one from the cave up the mountain. He came directly up to Clara with a glint in his eye. Clara, who had grown quite familiar with this particular reptile, held her breath. Was she going to be killed? The dragon pinned her down to the corner of the TARDIS and… licked her face..?

The dragon's breath smelt of deceased people and it's saliva was as gummy as wallpaper paste, but Clara felt like it wasn't a 'I'll just taste this person' kind of lick, it was more of a 'thank you' kind of wet kiss.

As the dragon took his mouth away, Clara gazed into his eyes, they were soft and apologising.

"Don't worry,' Clara said to him, grimacing, wiping goo off her cheek "I forgive you, I guess…"

The dragon looked at her and laid his head on her shoulder. Clara didn't know what to really do next so she just gave the dragon a strange… dragon-y hug.

Many thoughts were flying through Clara's mind at that moment but the main thing that she was thinking was ' _What on earth am I doing_ _ **this**_ _for?_ ' so she let go slowly and brushed herself down. "I guess you just wanted to go home, eh?" she sighed.

All the time, The Doctor was watching this with eyebrows raised; he wasn't really a 'dragon-y hug' sort-of person.

"Come on," he sighed "Let's go."

Clara headed back to the TARDIS, waving a final goodbye to the dragon… or _was_ it final?

No, apparently not.

Clara looked at The Doctor with her big, pleading eyes.

"Go on then," The Doctor sighed

"I've made up my mind that dragons aren't that bad, after all," Clara smiled as the dragon followed her to the TARDIS.


	7. Chapter 7 - The Actual End

Chapter 7

The Doctor and Clara soon arrived back at Mud, tired out.

Tobias and Jessica hurried out of their house and ran out to meet them.

"Oh, you're back! We were getting worried!" they exclaimed, Jessica hugging Clara

" _As always,"_ Clara muttered, under her breath.

"So, they're gone then?" Tobias asked "Forever?"

"Well," Clara grinned, smugly, "Not _completely…_ "

Just then, the purple dragon (who Clara had named 'Pride') came out of the TARDIS and rested his head on Clara's shoulder. Clara stroked Pride's muzzle calmly, "Let me introduce you to Pride!" she smiled, "He's going to be your sentinel and guard the village from… um… wolves and… things... Take good care of him, won't you?"

She talked like a proud mother does of her child.

Jessica and Tobias thought her a tad weird after this, but still gave The Doctor and Clara the farewell gifts they had bought.

The Doctor got a new bow-tie (because bow-ties are cool) and Clara received an Indian-style dress (somehow Jessica had correctly guessed her dress size…)

On the day of Clara and The Doctor's leaving, Jessica and Tobias called all of the village residents together to bid them goodbye.

"Well, thanks for having us," Clara smiled at the crowd, she was amazed at how many people could fit into the little town, "The Doctor and I are going to leave you be… um… take care of yourselves… and Pride!" she added, blushing. She didn't perform well in front of crowds of people.

The Doctor rested a hand on her shoulder,

"Yes," he said calmly "So goodbye, then, and farewell!"

The villagers cheered

" _Are the people cheering because we're leaving them?_ " Clara wondered " _Or because they liked what we said?"_

Anyway, as The Doctor and Clara were heading back to the TARDIS, Verity ran up to them and handed The Doctor something pointy

"It's Pride's tooth," Verity said, "He wanted you to have it to remember him by."

The Doctor didn't know how Verity knew Pride wanted him to have his tooth, but he just kind of accepted it and thanked Verity anyway before watching her head back to Mud. Clara watched her go, too.

"So did you enjoy our little week out, Clara?" The Doctor asked.

"Apart from me getting injured as always, yeah, it was alright!" Clara smiled.

"Any one last place you'd like to go before we head home?"

"Well… there might be _one_ place…" Clara mused…

As Clara sat, hugging her knees, looking out of the TARDIS' doorway, she pulled the quilted blanket tighter over her shoulders.

The planet of Dragoromus shone below her.

Her hands burned against the coffee cup she was holding.

"It's beautiful…" She sighed.

"Yep," The Doctor nodded "Nothing more beautiful than dragons playing in moonlight! Home, then?" he asked.

Clara nodded,

"Homeward bound," She agreed, almost sad to have to leave. She could sit watching those dragons for the rest of her life if she was given the chance.

But they left the winged reptiles to their lives and left for Earth…

THE END


End file.
